


The Furry Dog who brought Us together

by Larryswonderworld



Category: Larry Stylinson - Fandom
Genre: Bakery, Cuddling, Cupcakes, Cute, Dog - Freeform, Fluff, Harry and Niall are best friends, Kissing, M/M, Smut, Top!Harry, au!one direction, bottom!Louis, eventually, its really cute, larry - Freeform, love on first sight, straydog, zayn liam and louis are friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 03:05:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9472712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larryswonderworld/pseuds/Larryswonderworld
Summary: I saw this on twitter; "Imagine your otp have been feeding the same homeless dog in the park but at different times so they neer see each other but one day they arrive at the same time and just kinda stare at each other while the dog jumps around cause both of his parents are there",so I decided to write it.Basically,Louis and Harry fall in love with a dog, and eventually they fall in love with each other too





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! 
> 
> I hope there won't be many mistakes, but if you can find any; please let me know. English is not my first language, but I'll try my best!
> 
> Please leave some comments or kudo's ❤

{ Louis }

Never, in his whole life, did Louis want to go home this badly. He was aching for it, so completely ready to leave, walk home quickly and just lie in bed with some leftover pizza. Louis tore a box with cigarets open en taking packs out of the box. Impatiently, he placed them on the shelves while he stared at the clock, begging time to go faster. When all the Marlboro packets where stacked he stood up, his bones clicking. Louis threw the carton box away. His eyes moved through the shop, at which he worked. The sweets were all lined up, the red bulls with the label to the front, the magazines stacked neatly in front of each other. Next week, he would probably have to do it all again. Depressing, really.  
"Zayn!" he yelled loudly, while he leaned against the counter.  
A few faint mumbles came out of the manager's office, before the door opened and Zayn poked his head out of the door. "What, Louis?" He sighed, his perfectly shaped eyebrows raised. "I swear to god, if you called me just for another useless reason, I won't hesitate to fire you."  
"You wouldn't," Louis laughed. "You would never be able to fire your best friend."  
"Oh yes I can."  
"Can not."  
"Louis I'm not doing this with you, twat. What's the reason you called me out?" Zayn leaned against the doorframe.  
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm leavin' early," Louis smiled sweetly.  
"Oh?" Zayn said sarcastically. "I didn't know anything about that."  
"I s'pose I might have forgotten to tell you," Louis said while he put on his coat. "But, cheers mate, see you tomorrow!"  
Zayn rolled his eyes, but then his face softened. "Don't forget to call your sisters, Lou. They miss you," he said softly,  
Louis stilled, his hand resting on his phone in his pocket. "You've spoken to them?"  
"They called me," Zayn scratched his chin lazily.  
"I swear, they love you more than they love me," Louis pouted. "I'll call them soon. I just haven't gotten the time to do so. But hey, I gotta go now. Say hi to Gi." Louis grinned and walked towards the entrance, phone in his hand.  
"Sure, Lou. Here, take this with you for you, it's left" Zayn walks towards the bread section and gives him a small baguette rolled in paper. "See you tomorrow morning, on time!" Zayn put emphasis on the last two words.  
Louis stuffs the bread in his pocket. "I was on time today!"  
"Right, Lou, and I'm the queen of the Netherlands" Zayn said sarcastically, before the door closed behind Louis' back. Once he was outside, Louis breathed in the air. The sharp smell of gasoline and carwash soap from the little, old fashioned gasstation at the corner of the street prickled his nose, but Louis didn't mind. In fact, he loved the smell of gasoline. It reminded him of his puberty. He spend so many time with Liam and Zayn washing cars for a little extra pocket money, which they would spend on cigarettes and cheap alcohol that they smoked and drank on the balcony of Louis' father's flat.  
When they got older, they decided to move to London and spend a gap year together, sharing a small flat and a lot of personal space. Louis often wondered how he survived living in a home that was just slightly bigger than Harry Potter's bedroom, but at that time he couldn't care less; he was living together with his best mates, nothing seemed better than that.  
But of course, as they grew up they met new people. First Liam, who met a girl named Sophia and moved out shortly after. They were so in love, it was disgusting. Louis remembers the nights that he, Liam and Zayn sat together on the roof of the flat, smoking weed and talking about nothing, until Liam suddenly dropped the news out of nowhere. "I'm moving in with Sophia," he said. Louis and Zayn weren't surprised, and the next week they spend moving Liam's possessions to the other side of London. Zayn and Louis promised each other not to leave that quickly when they found a lover themselves, but a month after Zayn met a chick named Gigi, he was gone too. And now it's just Louis living in the flat. It didn't matter at all, because if his mates were happy then Louis was too, and he spoke to the both of them daily; the perks of working in the same shop. It was Zayn's idea, to start setting up a little shop.  
"What kinda shop?" Liam had asked.  
"A sex shop!" Louis grinned wickedly.  
"No, just a shop. With books, sweets, maybe a little bit of basic necessities  
Iike milk 'n eggs and cigarettes and whatsoever."  
"And condoms," Louis added.  
"A little tesco, you mean?"  
"Yeah, but not just groceries."  
"Like a campingshop?" Liam asked, taking a sip of beer.  
"Yeah."  
"Seems cool. Let's do it."  
And so they did, and now they have their own shop. Zayn's the manager/boss, Liam is everything and Louis.. ah, let's not go there. Louis is convinced he's doing a perfect job, but if you'd ask Zayn and Liam they would roll their eyes, tell you about the mess Louis makes and how he always leaves early but they'll also be convinced that the shop would be a total disaster without Louis. He brings life into the shop, comes up with crazy but very good ideas that attract a lot of costumers.  
Louis smiled a bit and looked up at the moon. It was dark outside, even though it was just a little past six. That's one of the things Louis loved about winter, it's dark early and-

Whoops!

"Oh, shite, sorry," Louis crouched down at the dog he just bumped into. The dog squeaked out a ragged breath and barks a small bark. Louis heart broke a bit. "Ah, I'm sorry. Are you here all alone? Where's your owner?" He slowly lifted his hand. The dirty, brown, middle sized dog came a little closer and sniffled curiously at Louis' hand. He shrank away a little when Louis started petting him softly, but relaxed after a few seconds. "Good boy," Louis murmured fondly. "Now, where's your owner? Do you have a tag? Lemme see," he flipped the ears of the carefully to the side and started searching for the collar. When he couldn't find it, he sighed sadly. "You're a stray dog, aren't you? Poor little thing." He bit his lip. "I can't take you with me, doggo, I'm sorry."  
The dog wagged his tail slowly and pushes his nose in Louis' open hand.  
Suddenly, Louis remembered the bread Zayn gave him. "Here, you can have this. You seem a bit too skinny for a dog," Louis said while he took out the piece of bread and broke it into three pieces. The dog started barking happily. Louis laughed. "Here you go, doggo," he gave one piece of the bread. "Bon Appetit!"  
Within a few seconds, the dog had devoured the bread, and Louis fed him the other two silently. When all the bread was gone, Louis scratched the dog one more time behind his ears. "I gotta go now, gotta fetch something to eat myself."  
Louis stood up, his joints clicking. "Bye!" He said softly. The dog barked, as if he understood him. Then, Louis turned around and left, hoping to see the dog again.

 

{ Harry }

 

"Harry, I think you should raise your leg?" Niall inspected the bag of crisps, searching for some left overs. He found some, and he shove them in his mouth.  
Harry clenched his teeth. "I am trying, oomph, but I can't-"  
"Yes you can mate, ten seconds to go. Up, Harry! Raise that god damn leg!"  
"Language, Niall," Harry breathed out with clenched teeth. The muscles in his legs were begging him to stop, to sit down, but Harry wasn't someone who gave up quickly.  
"Five, four," Niall licked his greasy fingers. "Three, two, one, you're done!"  
Harry slid down against the wall, his legs trembling. "This was terrible," he panted, closing his eyes and reaching blindly for his water bottle.  
"Wall sits with one leg are pretty harsh mate. Dunno why you even try."  
"I'll do them again tomorrow, so I can practice a bit. Oh, no!"  
"What?"  
"I have yoga tomorrow," Harry sighed. "Oh well." He uncapped the bottle and took a few large gulps. After that, he breathed in deeply. "I feel so good right now! Next time you really have to join me, Ni."  
Niall looked at Harry's sweaty forehead and grimaced. "Maybe. I'll see."  
"I'm going to eat at Mum's today, want to join? She's making curry."  
"Ah damn, I really want to stay but I promised me mum to skype her t'night," Niall pouted. "I'm sorry, Haz."  
"No worries!" Harry smiled and stood up, his legs trembling a bit from the workout. "We'll just have to ask her to make it another time. She'll be delighted to see you again. She loves you."  
Niall beamed happily. "Aces!" He stood up and grabbed his jacket. "Well, I gotta go, mate. See you tomorrow at uni?"  
"Of course. Bye Ni!" Harry pulled Niall in for a sweaty hug, which Niall returned without a care.  
When Harry heard the frontdoor close behind Niall's back, he turned towards the bathroom. Time for a well earned, hot shower.

"Harry, dear, come in!" Anne said with a happy smile. She kissed her son's dimpled cheeks and ushered him inside the warm house. "How are you, love?"  
"I'm fine, mum," Harry shook off his (fake) furry coat and stepped into the warmth of his childhood home. Luckily, his mum lived in London too so he didn't have to drive that far. In fact, he could cycle to his childhood home, which he did because it was way better for the environment and for his health. "How are you? Heard anything of Gems, yet?"  
"She's doing fine, she's staring her internship in a week or so. She said she was planning to call you very soon."  
Harry smiled. "That's good for her!" He sat down at the wooden dinner table, which his mum already set. The steaming curry with a plate of naan was placed proudly in the middle of the table. "It smells so good, mum," Harry praised.  
"It's completely without any meat," Anne said smiling. "Better for the environment, isn't it?"  
"Absolutely!" Harry beamed. He tucked his hands beneath his chin.  
"Now, tell me dear," Anne said while handing Harry a plate full of curry and rice. "How was your doctor's appointment? What did he say?"  
Harry shrugged while tearing of a piece of naan. "Nothing really new, really. 'S just that I have to do a few exercises which might help against my bad back. But he said yoga will do just fine so I'm gonna keep up with that. I can still do workouts and do my morning jogs!"  
"That's amazing, love. Is Niall still joining you with the workouts?"  
"He's trying," Harry laughed. "He's a good soul, but sports aren't really his thing, he quit after one time trying."  
Anne smiled. They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Anne took a sip of her wine. "And.. is there any special person in your life? A girl? A boy?"  
"No, mum," Harry laughed. "There's no relationship for me. I don't think I have time for a relationship either"  
Anne raised her brows, smiling softly.  
"And besides, I haven't found anyone special, yet. Until then, I'll have my lovely mommy, right?" He stuck out his tongue.  
Anne smiled and pinched Harry's cheeks. "Of course, silly."

"Don't forget to put the left over curry in the refrigerator, the naan can stay out of it but you should keep it in the foil, okay?"  
"Sure, mum," Harry put on his coat and slung the bag with the leftover curry and naan over his shoulder. "It will be fine."  
"Send my regards to Niall and ask Barbara if she's still wanting to read that book!"  
"I will, I'll see Barbara tomorrow at work so I'll let you know soon," Harry kissed his mum's cheek. "Bye, mum!"  
"Bye, love," Anne watched Harry step on his bike. Harry waved and then cycled away. Deep in thoughts, he cycled through the dark park that was in between his own flat and his mum's house. He passed one boy, but besides him, the park empty and abandoned. A couple of street lanterns where on, lighting up the path in front of Harry. Harry snuggled a bit into his coat. It was cold outside, maybe even freezing. No wonder, it was almost February.  
Suddenly, a dark ball of fur crossed the road, and Harry had to swirl his steering wheel very quickly to dodge the what seemed to be a black dog. "Shit!" Harry cursed, while he braked. He stepped off of his bike and turned around to look if he hit the dog. Carefully, he placed his bicycle on the ground and walked towards the dog. "Hey, doggy," he slowly said, kneeling. "Are you all alone here? Where's your owner?" He reached out towards the dog, who let him be pet, slowly wagging his tail and sniffled curiously at the stranger's hand. "Don't you have a place to live?" Harry murmured, checking if there was a collar. There wasn't. Poor dog, he was probably living on the streets.  
The dog looked at him, head tilted to one side and his tail still wagging.  
"Here, I have something to eat for you. You look way too thin for a dog!" Harry opened his bag and took out the left over naan. "It's a shame that I can't take you home, or I would have given you some proper food. But my renter doesn't want any pets in the flat," Harry explained sadly, while feeding the black, furry dog some naan. The dog ate the naan happily, licking Harry's hand afterwards.  
"I have to go now, furry," Harry smiled when the dog pushed his head in his hand. "Maybe I'll come by tomorrow again, okay?" He stood up, stretching his back and walked towards his bike. The dog didn't follow him, just stayed exactly where Harry left him, a few crumbs of naan on his nose. Harry stepped with a heavy heart on his bike, waved and then cycled away, into the night.


	2. Chapter two

Chapter two

{ Louis }

The next morning, Louis woke up with his phone blaring some stupid ringtone that he still needed to change. Louis groaned and covered his ears. He wasn't ready to wake up yet. What kind of psycho even called this early in the morning?  
When Louis thought the ringing finally stopped, it started again.  
"God damn it," he cursed, grabbing his phone. "What?" He said grumpily, his voice hoarse and raw from the sleep.  
"Louis."  
"Liam."  
"Do you know what time it is?"  
"Time to fucking get back to sleep."  
"It's eleven, you idiot. You promised Zayn to be here on time."  
"Eleven? Shite!" Louis groaned and took his phone from his ear to check the time. 10:58. Liam was such an exaggerator.  
"Get out of your bed and get your ass back to the shop. We need you, there are a lot of costumers right now and Zayn should do the paperwork right now instead of being a cashier."  
"Okay okay I'm already out of bed," Louis lied, resting his head on his pillow and tugging his hand under his chin.  
"Hurry up, Lou," Liam ordered, before hanging up.  
Louis rolled his eyes and curled up under his duvet. It wasn't even 11:00 yet. And if he already was half an hour late, then what would those few minutes matter? He closed his eyes to get another ten minutes of sleep, when his phone buzzed. A text from Zayn .  
"Get out of ur bed u twat & get ur ass here quick or ill fire u."

"Louis these cd's need to be put in alphabetical order, someone messed it all up," Zayn pushed Louis towards the cd section. "And if you're done, please check what needs to be reordered. Oh, the new books are probably coming in in an our or so, as is the new coffee machine. Please let the deliveryman come in and stop flirting with him, okay?"  
"Yes, boss," Louis saluted.  
A little smile formed on Zayn's lips. "Please behave, Louis."  
"Will do. You go do the boss work, let me handle this. Where's Li?"  
"He's busy calling an engineer who will be able to instal the new coffee machine whenever it's delivered. He'll be helping at the register after, so you won't have to do that today."  
"Aces. I'll fetch lunch today! To make up that I was a little late."  
"Two hours too late," Zayn held up two fingers.  
Louis pouted.  
"Fine. I'd like a chocolate croissant from Barbara's bakery."  
"Jesus, I was planning on some to go sandwiches from Tesco, but sure, go wild and ask for expensive ass bakery goods."  
"Two hours, Lou, two hours," Zayn smirked before slipping into his office.  
Louis smiled and rolled his eyes, before turning to the cd's. Alphabetical order. Alrighty.

"I'm off to the bakery!" Louis said to Liam, who was helping a costumer find a new book. "Do you want anything special?"  
"A muffin would be fine, thanks."  
"Nothing else?"  
"No, Soph made me lunch today."  
"Okay, bye," Louis smiled at the costumer, a teenage girl with blonde hair who had a very obvious crush on Liam.  
Luckily, Barbara's bakery wasn't too far of a walk. He would be there in a couple of minutes. Louis tapped his pockets, hoping to find a cigarette. Luckily, he had one left. While he lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply, letting the smoke swirl in his lungs, he wondered if he would see the dog again. Probably not. It's a sad idea; stray dogs and cats, though Louis wasn't really a cat person. But dogs... he always loved dogs. He had a dog called Clifford when he was younger. A sigh passed Louis' lips. Oh how he missed Clifford. He was one of his best friends and even though he was a dog, Louis felt like he understood him every time 6 year old Louis came home crying because his classmates made fun of him because he had no dad. Louis clearly remembers the day he came home and his mum sat at the table with a sorry look on her face and Clifford's collar in the palm of her hand.  
Louis shrugs the memory out of his head. He shouldn't be thinking about them both. It makes him terribly sad and he shouldn't be feeling that way anymore.  
When he opened the door of Barbara's Bakery, he was greeted by a lovely smell of fresh, warm bread and cupcakes. An older woman was chatting with another costumer, but paused when Louis walked into the shop. "Hi love, how can I help you?" She asked sweetly.  
"I'd like two chocolate croissants, a vanilla muffin and ah," Louis scanned the shop. "A normal croissant please."  
"Of course," Barbara said, placing all the wanted goods in a brown paper bag and tapping the prices into an old fashioned cash register. "Anything else I could help you with?"  
Louis stood there, contemplating for a moment, until he smiled a bit. "D'you maybe know the closest butcher?"

"Just a piece of sausage?"  
"Yeah, just like.. it's for a dog, so like, not too big," Louis explained.  
The butcher raised his eyebrows. "You're going to give my perfectly made sausage to a dog?"  
"Yes," Louis smiled.  
"That must be a special dog then. Well, is this one good enough?"  
"Yeah, perfect."  
It may be stupid, but Louis was hoping to find the dog again. Maybe he'd be in the same park? He wished he was. Zayn would definitely say he's an idiot, for sure. But Zayn had a really distaste towards dog either way, so yeah. Maybe Louis was an idiot for buying a sausage for a homeless dog who he might never find, but oh well. Sometimes you have to do weird things to make life a little special.  
"Thanks a lot," Louis said after he paid.  
"Cheers," the man said, before returning to the red meat on the table behind him.  
With the bag full of bread and a little bag with the sausage, he started walking towards the park. Zayn's going to be mad if Louis didn't come back within 15 minutes, and Louis didn't necessarily want to come late again. He hoped that he would find the dog quickly so he didn't have to give an explanation why he was late for the second time that day. 'Cause even though Zayn and Liam would never fire him, Louis wasn't really fond of Angry and Disappointed Ziam. Once a day was enough, let alone two times.  
As Louis strolled through the park, his eyes flicked through the bushes and trees, hoping to find the black dog. But he didn't. Not even on the dog field. Where was he? There was a huge chance that the dog wouldn't even be in the same part of the city anymore, let alone the same park. But just as Louis wanted to walk out of the park, he saw a flash of black fur running towards him.  
"Hey!" Louis said happily. He kneeled to the ground and laughed. "Do you remember me, doggo?"  
The dog barked and pushed his head into Louis' hand.  
"Yeah, yeah, I have something for you," Louis opened the bag with the sausage. "Here you go!" He opened his hand and watched as the dog ate the sausage. "Good boy," Louis said, smiling as he petted his head.  
The dog barked, as if he wanted to say a thank you or something. At least, that's what Louis imagined.  
"I gotta go now, doggo. I will come by again tomorrow, okay?" Louis scratched the dog behind his ears. "I promise."  
The dog wagged his tail.  
"Bye, doggo" Louis said with a smile on his face, petting the dog one more time before he turned around and left.

 

{ Harry }

"Harry, dear, it's past five. You're allowed to go home now, you know that?" Barbara set down a baking tray and smiled up at Harry.  
"I know, I'm finishing this cupcake and I'll go home, I promise," Harry said, his brows furrowed in concentration as he carefully added some icing.  
Barbara leaned against the counter. "Don't get me wrong, I love to have you here but you have to spend some time with your friends and family too, darling. Work is important, but your friends are way more important."  
"I know, no worries," Harry smiled as he watched up at her. "I'm just experimenting with a new cupcake but I just can't figure out what's missing."  
"Lemme see your previous try outs," Barbara asked.  
Harry shove the plate with cupcakes her way. "It's actually for my niece's birthday, she's turning seven and Gem's planning on throwing her a small high tea with her friends and I offered to make some of the cupcakes but I really can't come up with any good new ones. I've tried banana but it won't stick together really well and the recipes on internet aren't really good."  
Barbara twisted the cupcakes each, inspecting them all carefully. "They seem perfectly fine."  
"It all tastes too.. like, I want to make it a bit more natural? And like I said, it doesn't stick together at all."  
"Try banana and honey, maybe."  
"Banana and honey, of course!" Harry said. "I haven't tried that one yet. Thanks!"  
"No problem darling. I'll let you do your thing now, if you need any help I'll be at the front, okay?"  
"Okay Barbs," Harry smiled thankfully at her.  
"Oh and Harry, you can use the bees and banana's decorations for the cupcakes. You know where to find them."  
"Really?"  
"Really, love,"  
The bell tinkled, indicating that a new costumer came in. Barbara smiled and then walked to the front.  
Right when Harry turned around to get the honey from the cupboards, his phone rang. Luckily, Barbara had no problem with him taking a phone call at work. She was such a sweetheart, the perfect person to work for, really.  
"Hi," Harry said.  
"Haaazzz," Niall shouted enthusiastically. "Guess what?"  
"What?"  
"You and I are going to the pub toniiighhtt!"  
"What? Why?"  
"Because, my dear, dear Harold, I have finally found a job."  
"You have? That's great, Ni! Where? What is it?" Harry grabbed the pot of honey and returned to his cupcake batter. "How did you find it?"  
"Me mum actually, she tipped me that she knew someone from a recordlabel and they were hiring several people to help 'em out with some financial stuff."  
"Ni, that's great, but you have like zero knowledge about financial stuff."  
"I know, that's why they hired me as an assistant. Isn't that great? I get to work at a recordlabel!"  
"Ni, that's so awesome!" Harry said, really proud and happy for his friend. "We have to celebrate this!"  
"When are ya done working, Haz? We can go to Ed's pub and celebrate this important life changing moment!"  
Harry laughed. "I'm going home in like, 30 minutes. I'll go home quickly to change and then I'll meet you at the pub okay, Ni?"  
"Sure, see you then Hazzerd. Love ya."  
"Love you, bye," Harry hung up and shook his head, laughing silently. He really was happy for his friend. Niall had always wanted to work at a record label, but he never really had any luck. Up until now, of course. Harry really hoped that it would all work out for him.  
When the cupcake was finished and seemed perfect, all the ingredients were scribbled down and the kitchen was clean again, Harry took off his apron and grabbed his coat. He walked into the bakery. "Barbs, I'm gonna go home now," he said, giving the older lady a kiss on her cheek.  
"Did you bring your try out cupcakes with you?" Barbara asked.  
Harry lifted the bag.  
"Okay, have fun celebrating Niall's new job," Barbara winked.  
Harry smiled, dimples showing. "I will. Bye!"  
"Bye, darling."

 

  
The curly haired lad stepped out of the warm shop, into the cold air. He dug up his mustardyellow beanie from his coat and put it on, preventing him from the cold February wind. He shivered and walked out of the street, towards the park. Suddenly, he remembered the furry dog that he almost cycled over yesterday evening. Harry wondered if the dog would be there again. Somehow, he hoped he did. There was something sweet about the dog. Harry had never really been a dog person, he felt more attracted to cats someway, but this dog was just really cute, with his black fur and his brown eyes with so much kindness in them. It was dinnertime, so the park was quite empty. Harry looked around, hoping to spot the dog. But he didn't. All the way through the park, Harry was looking for the dog, but he was nowhere to be found. But at the moment that he gave up, he heard a bark. Harry turned around and smiled. There, sitting in front of him, was the black ball of fur. Harry kneeled to the ground.  
"Hi there, furry," Harry smiled, reaching out towards the dog, who let him be pet happily. "Are you here again?"  
Suddenly, he remembered the cupcakes. He wondered if dogs were allowed to eat cupcakes, but Harry didn't really care. He grabbed his bag and held up one of the cupcakes. "Do you want this, furry?" He asked the dog, who barked and wagged his tail.  
"Good boy, here, you can have it," Harry removed the paper and placed the cupcake on the palm of his hand. He watched how the dog sniffled it curiously, before guzzling it up. When he looked up at Harry, he had frosting on his nose. Harry laughed and wiped it off.  
They sat there peacefully for a minute of two, before Harry became really cold and remembered that he promised Niall to be at Ed's pub in halve an hour.  
"I'm sorry, furry, but I have to go," Harry said regretful. "I'll be here tomorrow again, okay? I promise."  
The dog just barked and looked up at Harry, tongue out of his mouth.  
"Bye," Harry smiled and stood up. The dog stayed were he was, while Harry made his way out of the park.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update today! Please please please leave comments and kudos, I really appreciate them ❤

They both continued this routine; Louis went to the park during his lunch break, Harry visited the dog after his work, around dinnertime. They both saw small changes in the dog; he was happier than when they first met and he started to become a little fatter. That was a good thing, because the dog was quite thin when they first bumped into him.  
The dog loved them both; barking ecstatically whenever he saw Louis or Harry coming, his tail wagging. Both boys didn't even have to look for him anymore; every time they entered the park, the dog was waiting for them at the entrance.  
What Louis didn't know, was that Harry was feeding the dog too. And vice versa; Harry didn't know anything about Louis feeding the dog.

 

{Louis}

 

It wasn't until a week later, that Liam caught on.  
"What's taking you so long every time you take a break?" He asked when Louis came back from the park. "I can't remember the bakery, nor tesco being so far away that it takes.." he held is wrist up to check his watch. ".. 35 minutes to get there and walk back."  
Louis' cheeks flushed slightly red. "I-It's just very busy around lunch time," he stuttered.  
"Is it?" Liam raised his eyebrows suspiciously.  
"What do you think I'm doing, Li? Some drugs dealing?" Louis laughed nervously, fiddling with his fingers.  
"No, of course not," Liam shook his head. "If you don't want to tell us, that's okay, but if there's something you want to tell us, you know that Zayn and I will listen to you, okay? We're your best friends."  
"There isn't anything bad happening, Li," Louis said, asking himself if he should tell Liam or just leave it at it. He decided against keeping it away from Liam. There was nothing strange at feeding a homeless dog, right? "'S just that, ah, I've been feeding a homeless dog recently, and yeah," Louis scratched the back of his head awkwardly, waiting for Liam's response.  
Liam bursted out in laughter. "You dealing drugs seemed more realistic than you feeding a homeless dog," he laughed, pretending to wipe away a tear.  
"It's true," Louis said slightly annoyed, turning around to mess with some magazines. "I'm not some heartless person."  
"That isn't what I meant, Louis," Liam said, his laughter fading a bit. He was silent for a moment, before he spoke up again. "What are you giving him to eat?"  
"Just, I don't know. Sometimes a sausage, sometimes some leftovers from home," Louis said quietly, while he left the magazines alone to start rummaging through the rack with pens and pencils, doing nothing in particular.  
"Hey, I'm sorry Lou, you don't have to be ashamed of it. It's really good that you're helping a dog out. I wasn't making fun of you, I promise."  
Louis smiled and turned around, leaning with his bum against the wall. "It's okay, Li. Just don't tell Zayn, yet. He'll think I'm a complete psycho."  
"Don't tell me what?" Zayn, who left the office with a stack of paper, asked.  
"Louis' been feeding a homeless dog," Liam grinned.  
Zayn, just like Liam, bursted out in laughter. "You what?"  
Louis rolled his eyes. "See, Li, this is what I meant. You can explain it, I'll be in the back." He turned around and walked towards the storageroom in the back of the shop. At first sight, it looked like a complete chaotic mess, but there was a system behind it. Somewhere. Louis pushed a few carton boxes away to reveal the small, wooden pallet on which the new orders came in every week. He had to scan and tag them and when he was done, he had to refill the shop with them. It was an easy task, and Louis didn't really mind doing it, whereas Zayn and Liam hated it. But that made them such a good team.

Around six, a few minutes before the shop would close, a young woman with red lipstick stepped into the shop. She looked around, obviously looking something.  
Louis stood up from where he was filling the sweets and smiled at her. "Can I help you?"  
"Oh, hi. I was wondering.. my daughter is turning seven in a few days and I'm looking for some party decoration. Do you, by any chance, have them? Otherwise I will have to walk all the way to Tesco and I am already running a bit late for my meeting with my brother."  
"Sure, here," Louis turned around. "They're unisex, though. We don't really have any typical boys/girls stuff because we don't want to support genderroles."  
"Oh that's definitely okay! Really good that you're doing that," the woman smiled while grabbing some balloons and party garlands. "In times like this with people like Trump we really need some LGTBQ+ friendly places."  
"Innit? Horrible man, he is," Louis said, while walking towards the cash register. "So sad that there are people who believe that he is the best for America."  
"Yeah. We'll see how it turns out," the woman smiled up at Louis. "By the way, this is such a lovely shop. I never really noticed it because I'm always in a hurry, but it's really cute. Is it yours?"  
"Yeah, me mates and I set it up a couple of years ago. It's not really a typical shop but we're kind of proud of it, and we love working here so, yeah," he placed the items in a paper bag and handed it over to the woman, who took out her purse.  
"It's on us," Louis smiled.  
"Really? You don't have to!"  
"I'm sure. Happy birthday to your daughter."  
"Thank you so much," the woman put a few pounds in the charityjar on the counter. "Thanks again, it was nice meeting you!" She said, before hastily walking out of the shop.  
"Likewise," Louis smiled.

 

{ Harry }

 

Harry wiped his flour-y hands on his apron, and put his brown, curly hair into a bun. What a day. It was very busy, costumers spilling into the shop and ordering so much that after a few hours, Harry wondered if there would be enough bread for everyone. There's half a loaf, two cupcakes and one piece of cake left, and that's it.  
"You did well today," Gabby, a woman who helped on the weekends, slapped Harry friendly on his back. "The costumers love you, I swear the only reason they come here is to talk to you."  
Harry laughed and shook his head while wiping the counter with a cloth. "As if."  
"It's true. Hey, Barabara asked me if you could take this with you, for your dog?" Gabby raised her eyebrows. "I didn't know you owned a dog."  
"I don't," Harry smiled while he took over the plastic bag. He opened it and smiled. There was a bread roll with a sausage in the middle. Barbara was too good for this world. When he noticed that Gabby was staring at him, he felt his cheeks heat up. "I'm feeding a homeless dog, that's why. Barbara is convinced that I'll take him home sometime, but unfortunately my renter won't let me."  
There fell a silence between then, and Harry awkwardly shifted his weight from his left foot to his right foot. "So... I'm going to go home now. Can you double check with Barbara if she knows that I'm not working tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, sure, but I bet that she didn't forget about it. You go home now, I will clean the shop."  
"Thanks," Harry said appreciatively, while shrugging on his coat. "You're the best. Well, see you next week!" He said while putting on his beanie. He smiled a dimpled smile and waved, before stepping out of the shop.  
He closed the door behind him, and wanted to turn around, but suddenly two hands covered his eyes. Harry froze.  
"Guess who?" A familiar voice whispered in his ear.  
"Gems!" Harry shouted before turning around and throwing his arms around his older sister. "I've missed you so much! What are you doing here?!"  
Gemma's laughter filled his ear while she squeezed him tight. "Hello little bro," she pinched his cheek like she always did, as if he was still a little boy. "I had to fix some things in Chelmsford and thought; why not visit my little brother? I feel like I haven't seen you in so long. How are you? How's Niall?"  
"Why does everyone always ask how Niall is?" Harry pouted. "Have I already been replaced by him? Is it his accent? His eyes?"  
Gemma rolled her eyes. "Drama queen."  
"But for real, Niall's doing well. Got hired as an assistant at a recordlabel."  
"Really? That's sick."  
"How much time do you have before you're leaving?" Harry peered at his watch. "It's a little past 6."  
"Oh, a couple of hours. Do you wanna grab dinner with me? My treat!"  
"Of course! I know a really nice place, a few minutes walking."  
"Sounds lovely. Let's go!" Gemma smiled.  
"But, can we maybe like, go to the park first?" Harry asked a little bit shy. "I've been like, feeding a homeless dog and I don't want him to think that I forgot about him."  
Gemma rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised. Let's go feed the homeless dog."

Like always, the furry dog was waiting for him at the entrance of the park. He barked happily when he saw Harry coming his way, and padded towards him and the stranger he brought with him. He sniffled curiously at her extended hand. He seemed to accept her, because soon enough he was wagging his tail again, while looking up at Harry, who kneeled to the ground. "Hi, there. Here," he opened the bag. "I have a sausage bread roll for you! But first; sit!"  
The dog sat down immediately.  
"Let's show Gemma what a good boy you are," Harry put his finger in the air and made a circling motion, and the dog turned around submissively. "Good boy," Harry praised him, petting his head and scratching behind his ears. "Here you go! Bon Appetit!" He placed the breadroll on the ground and the dog started eating it.  
"What a cutie!" Gemma laughed, placing her hand on Harry's shoulder. "You raised him very well. When did you find him?"  
"A week ago, or so. He's really really really cute."  
"Why don't you take him with you?"  
"I can't," Harry sighed. "The renter doesn't want any pets in the flat, and what will I do with him when I'm working? He can't stay inside, someone needs to take him out once in a while."  
"That's so sad."  
"It is," Harry sighed, stroking the black fur. "God knows what will happen to him if people suddenly decide to beat him up?"  
"They won't."  
Harry sighed again, before standing up. "I gotta go now, furry. Tomorrow I'll be back again, promise. Maybe even a little bit earlier than today, and I might take you to the vet or something."  
"You are?"  
"Yeah," Harry shrugged. "I have an insurance, it will be alright. I already made an appointment at the veterinary, tomorrow around lunchtime," he smiled and looked at his older sister. "Let's go get dinner."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis and Harry come to feed the dog at the same time..

Chapter 4

 

The next day felt a little off. Louis woke up with a headache and cramp in his left calve. He winced, stretching his legs, his toes curling towards the mattress. It were times like these that Louis would love to have someone that would take care of him, getting him some aspirin and a glass of water, tugging him into the comforter and telling him not to go to work and call off the day, before cuddling with him. Maybe even make him some chickensoup..  
Instead, Louis was alone, his head pounding and his throat feeling sore. He cracked his eyes open, tapping his nightstand and grabbing his phone. It was 7:47 am. God.  
He speed dialed Zayn, who picked up his phone after a couple of rings. "Am I dreaming? Or is it really you that's not asleep and is calling me before 12?" Zayn joked.  
Louis coughed and winced. It felt like he was ripping up his throat with every cough. "I'm not feeling well," he said with a rasping voice.  
"Jeez, Lou, that doesn't sound really good. Stay in today, m'kay? Li and I will take care of the shop today."  
"Thanks," Louis whispered, his head pounding with every breath he took.  
"Call me or Li if you need something."  
"Will do. Thanks Z."  
They hung up after that, and before Louis' head hit the pillow, he was asleep.

He had a weird dream about riding purple horses while being followed by tiny little monsters, while some weird ass music was played around in his head, but when he woke up he felt better than in the morning. He still had a headache and his throat felt sore, but it didn't feel as if he were to burst from pain. Slowly, he sat up and blinked a bit. His stomach rumbled, telling him that it should be around luchtime and one look at the clock confirmed that.   
The floor was cold when he stepped out of bed, causing a shiver to run down Louis' body. He yawned, slowly making his way towards his small kitchen. While crossing his fingers, he hoped that he had enough food for a small breakfast. His plans were to go to Tesco right after work, but he wasn't really sure if he was going to go there today. Maybe just for some bread and peanutbutter, maybe even milk if he was feeling wild. He opened the fridge, but it was disappointingly empty. There were some cans with soda and beer, a piece of shredded cheese and a jar with pickles, but that was all Louis had. Luckily, he bought a complete baguette while buying a bread roll for the fuzzy dog yesterday, so he could eat that and- shit. Louis looked at the clock again. Normally, it was breaktime right now, meaning that he would feed the dog but.. he was ill right? Maybe he should skip feeding him this time. Louis stared at the baguette. I mean, the dog sure wouldn't really be waiting for him, would he? And he could definitely survive a day without Louis... right?  
Louis looked outside for a moment, sighed and then walked to his room to put on some joggers and an old oversized grey sweater. One look in the mirror told him he looked like shit, but oh well. It wasn't like he was going to meet anyone special today. He put on a dark blue hoodie to hide his untamed hair and shove his feet into his black vans. He picked up his keys and his phone while walking towards the kitchen to grab his baguette. When he passed the mirror again he rolled his eyes at himself. You know when you hit rock bottom when you are too lazy to go to the supermarket but are still walking half a mile to feed a dog. So there he went; the pounding in his head was faded to a slight dull, and with an excited feeling in his stomach about seeing 'his' dog again.

 

Harry woke up feeling well rested. The muscles in his lower body hurt a bit from the yoga he did yesterday, but it was okay. It felt good. He smiled and put his hands behind his head. Today he didn't have to work, meaning he had a full day to himself.   
Nice.  
He slipped out of bed, scratching his butterfly tattoo lightly while checking his phone for any new messages. It was half past twelve, meaning that he had an hour to get ready before he had to go to the vet with the fuzzy dog. Hopefully, everything would be alright with him. Harry would feel horrible if the dog had any diseases. But the dog seemed alright to him, so there was no need to worry.   
Harry opened his fridge, taking out the tomatoes, eggs and a bottle of fresh orange juice. He cut the tomatoes into pieces and placed them in a pan, cracked the eggs and mixed them with a fork together in a bowl before adding it to the pan with tomatoes. He slowly started stirring it and waited until his scrambled eggs were done.   
Harry loved days like these. Sure, he loved to work, but once in a while he could really enjoy a day off. Just catching up on his sleep, cooking some scrambled eggs and visiting 'his' dog. Maybe he'd even buy a leash for him so he could take him for walks around London.   
The sun was shining through his curls when he took a seat next to the window. He could now see a part of the city, and if he looked closely and if the air was clear, he could see the tower of the big ben. This window was the favorite part of Harry's house, because even though his flat was just a little, cheap place, when he sat at this window he felt like he was living in a penthouse at the centre of the city.   
And so, Harry's day started relaxed and lazy. He wiggled himself into some skinny jeans and threw on a shirt. After spraying on some nice smelling deodorant, he left the house with some apple slices, which the dog seemed to like. The curly haired boy was rather excited to see the dog today. He couldn't really put his finger on why exactly he felt these weird nervous spurts in his stomach but he didn't really want to worry about it. It could be the beautiful weather that was making him feel giddy about seeing his dog. The thing is, it wasn't really his dog, but Harry had already felt such a strong connection towards him, that it felt as if it was his. He knew that it was dangerous to feel that way, because one day the dog might be gone, either taken away by the dog services, his real owners or some people who just decided to take him home. God, the thought made Harry feel sick to his stomach. What if that happened? What if one day someone just... he really shouldn't think about it.  
Deep in thoughts, Harry entered the park. And stopped abruptly. Because there, at the spot where he would normally meet his furry dog, was a stranger. A beautiful stranger, that must be said. Feathery brown hair, blue, friendly, open eyes and pink lips. Cheekbones that seemed to be sculpted by the gods and a bum that was made by the devil. Harry gulped. What was this stranger doing with his dog?   
Suddenly, Harry felt like an idiot, standing there with his bag with sliced apples in his hand. The dog obviously knew the man, you could see that from miles away by just looking at the way that he let him be pet by the blue eyed stranger. Just as Harry wanted to turn around to go home and lay in bed all day to sulk about what he just found out, the dog realised that Harry was there. He jumped up and started to bark and wag his tail while running towards the curly haired boy.   
"Hi there," Harry said awkwardly while he tried to ignore the baffled stares of the stranger. The dog jumped up at him, licking his hands and running back to the other boy, and then back to Harry again.   
"Uhm," the other boy said, looking puzzled.   
"Do you-" they both said, laughing when they realised they spoke at the same time. Harry felt how his cheeks started to heat up.  
"Is he yours?" The stranger said, and Harry felt how his heart started to thump in his chest when he heard how beautiful his voice was. He started to imagine him beneath him and-   
"Shit- yeah. I mean- no. Well, sort of," Harry blurted out, his cheeks flaming red. The dog was still jumping up at the both of them, overly enjoyed that both of his "parents" were at the park at the same time.  
The boy bit back a smile. "So he isn't?"  
"No. I just.. come here to feed him."  
"You do?"  
"Yeah," Harry said, a little bit embarrassed. "I know it's lame and a bit sad to come here everyday but I just found him and he seemed so alone and hungry and- i just.." he shrugged.   
"Hey, it's okay," the boy said, placing his hand reassuringly on Harry's shoulder. Harry tried not to feel the heat rising up there. "I do the same. I guess I understand why he started to gain weight so fast." He winked at Harry. He removed his hand from Harry's shoulder and started to pet the dog. "Have you named him?"  
"I haven't, no," Harry said, starting to get a little more at ease. "Have you?"  
"No.. but if I'm honest, I like the name Tom for a dog."  
"Tom?" Harry thought it over. The dog barked happily. "I like it."  
They both looked at the dog, now named Tom, and they both thought the same thing. "What is going to happen now?" The boy asked.  
"I was actually planning on taking him to the doctor's today," Harry said, looking at the boy. "If you want to, you can come?" He offered.  
"If you don't mind..?"  
"Of course I don't- I haven't even introduced myself! 'M Harry," Harry said, sticking out his free hand.  
"I'm Louis," Louis said, grinning while shaking his hands. "Let's go take Tom to the vet, Harold!"  
"It's actually just Harry-"  
"Can't hear you, Harold!!" Louis said while sticking out his tongue.  
Harry bit his lip and blushed. Oh boy. He didn't even really know this boy and he was already falling for him..

Fuck.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments would be highly appreciated ❤


End file.
